


Winning Is A Losing Game

by WordsOfWisdom



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Childhood Memories, Gen, Light Angst, Memories, Trauma, introspective, just thinking about things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:18:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28392996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WordsOfWisdom/pseuds/WordsOfWisdom
Summary: “You were the one who wanted to win. And I just wanted a sister! You were all I had, but you were the one who needed to win“ - NebulaJust reminiscing about Nebula and winning
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Winning Is A Losing Game

**Author's Note:**

> Endgame was a mess. So much potential was wasted and I just....I don’t want to talk about it.  
> Also, I don’t like Tony stark but apparently that won’t stop me writing about him, albeit vaguely.  
> Anyway, enjoy.

Stark insisted on her joining in his asinine games. They were running out of oxygen, the levels dangerously low at this point and yet he would not stop insisting they...play. Nebula complied if only to appease a man who was clearly dying. He had little time left, she might as well distract him from that fact whilst she could. 

Growing up with Thanos as a, for want of a better word, father, there was no fun, but there were games, just not the ones you’d want to play. There were war games, mind games and games where if she lost Thanos would remove a part of her body and along with it, a part of her spirit. Stark’s games were not like Thanos’; they were childish and pointless and they were of no consequence whatsoever. Nebula had come to enjoy that about them. She didn’t understand the rules or the Earth-based things they related to but it didn’t matter if she lost. Stark was not like Thanos, he would not hurt her.

They were playing some sort of paper flicking game that Nebula had no experience in but her newfound enjoyment had her concentrating. Stark had the clear advantage of having introduced her to the game and thus knew its rules far better, likely had played it a lot too, but Nebula must have gained some of that ‘beginners luck’ that Stark had mentioned before. She’d managed to sail the paper right through his finger ‘goal’. Three little words : “you’ve won, congratulations” so simple yet so foreign to Nebula, it had her stunned for a moment.

All her life, she’d been up against Gamora. Gamora had been ruthless in their childhood, had beat her countless times and had never stopped in her endeavours to win. Even before her death, Nebula didn’t think Gamora understood the toll her never ending wins had taken on her.  
Nebula did not know what it felt like to win, only to lose and then to lose again when a piece of her was taken. Her greatest loss was when she realised that Gamora was not interested in being her sister, only the victor. 

Yet, now, as a result of a stupid game, Nebula had won for the first time in her life. Stark almost seemed proud of her, insisted that things had been fair and that the sport had been good, whatever that meant. Maybe Stark had let her win? She certainly hadn’t known what she was doing but...the idea of being allowed a victory by her opponent was such a strange one. Gamora would never have allowed her a win, and certainly not out of pity.

Nebula supposed that it did not matter. Now, with Stark dying and no planet for her nearby, with all her associates gone and Gamora dead, Nebula had won. It had taken the loss of everything to have her first victory.

**Author's Note:**

> I know it’s short but I’ve been thinking about it ever since endgame came out. And I’ve started other fics but never finished them so I thought I’d post this before I give up on it.


End file.
